Well, this seems to be one of the oddballs that Petsmart has started keeping regularly (usually in the same tank with Dwarf Puffers, go figure). They've got them at a good price at about an inch and a half long on a regular basis. I have a 25 gallon tall planted tank going - lots of driftwood, Java Moss, and Cabomba, little bit of pennywort. Right now, it's got a Male Bristlenosed Pleco, a small Blue Gourami, and a godzillion feeder guppies.

I'm going to cull the guppies tomorrow, but I am pondering getting 3 Leopard Ctenos to put in there and grow out a bit for the 110 Gallon African Tank I'll be setting up, hopefully later this month.

Will they wax plump on guppy fry? This is a population of guppies I've been keeping for about a year, so disease, if it shows up, would come in with the Bushfish. (Incidentally, my wife hears something else when I say "Bushfish" and has made me promise to name one of them Umfufu.)

Anything one ought to know about these guys before plunging ahead?

The-Wolf

08-11-2007 01:00 PM

highly predatory on small fish.
they have a lightning fast trike and a mouth that opens extremely wide.
they are not suitable for std community set up but can be housed with most fish that are not small enough to be eaten and not boisterous enough to hassle them.

my pair are kept with larger danios (moustached, giant, megha, yoma)
and also a dwarf snakehead.

The tank that I am pondering putting them in while I get the other set up, planted, and cycled is a 25 tall (Eclipse tank without the eclipse hood, but with a Versatop, a pair of HOBs, and 36 Watts of Fluorescent light). The thinking is that the Bushfish would eat a lot of the guppy fry and grow out a bit so that I can try and get them into the 110 at about 3" long. If they ate every guppy in the tank, I would shed no tears.

The-Wolf

08-12-2007 01:42 AM

they don't mix well with ABFs from what I've read and my ABFs were found dead two days after being introduced to the same tank as my bushfish.
I could detect not marks etc on the abfs and the water parameters were perfect, why they died is anybody's guess but I don't think it was coincidence

apart from the ABF I can see no problem with your planned set up.'it should be noted that the bushfish should be purchased at the same time and introduced together, this will minimise the territorial squabbles that arise when more bushfish are added later (in otherwords, don't add to an existing group).

a little tip on buying a pair
choose the one in the shops' tank that has the largest looking tailfin and the one that has the smallest tailfin, this way you will probably end up with a m/f pair.

tophat665

08-12-2007 10:44 AM

Thanks much! Unfortuantely, I didn't wait to get this advice. I got 3 of them yesterday and put them in the 25 gallon I spoke of.

Do you think that the 30" vertical dimension of a 110 would keep ABFs high enough to be mostly out of range of harrassment? Even given that I am planning on leaving 2 - 4" of air-space. (Thinking about covering it with egg crate and planting Peace lilies in the back corners of the tank cover to let the roots drop into the water.)